Europe's E. Coli Cases Rise

FRANKFURT—Europe's severe outbreak of Escherichia coli bacterial infections worsened further as more people succumbed to the lethal strain in Germany and around Europe.

The World Health Organization said Thursday that the E. coli bacteria responsible for an outbreak that has left 18 dead in Europe is a lethal strain that has never been detected as a human disease. Timothy Martin has details.

Total reported cases in Germany reached 1,733, with 520 of those resulting in severe complications that can lead to kidney failure, according to the Robert Koch Institute, a research body funded by the German Health Ministry. Cases have been reported in at least 11 other European countries.

Meanwhile, there were four suspected cases in the U.S., said Chris Braden, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's director of food-borne, waterborne and environmental diseases. He said all the cases involved people who had recently traveled to Germany.

The Spanish, Portuguese and German governments said on Friday that they would request EU aid for farmers affected by the outbreak, which is costing farmers millions of euros as mountains of vegetables sit rotting and uneaten.

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People eat slices of cucumber during a campaign in defense of Andalusian products in southern Spain on June 3.
Reuters

The source of the outbreak still hasn't been found, and authorities continue to warn against eating raw lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers. So far, 18 people have died from the strain, which is the deadliest outbreak of E. coli in modern history.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel called Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero late Thursday evening and they agreed to push for EU aid for farmers affected by the bans, according to the chancellor's spokesman.

The Portuguese government also said Friday that they would seek damages from the European Commission, estimating Portuguese farmers lost €2 million ($2.9 million) in the first week of the outbreak.

E. coli infections are normally food-borne, and nearly all cases have been traced back to northern Germany, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control in Stockholm.

Bartolome Florido pushes cucumbers in Benalmadena, Spain.
Reuters

Although the E. coli outbreak has mostly been limited to northern Germany, it has the European vegetable industry reeling from public fears about the bacterium. Russia on Thursday banned all fruit and vegetable imports from the EU.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Friday he will not lift the ban until the EU figures out the source. While the EU has criticized Russia for breaking trade rules, "we cannot poison our people [for] the sake of some spirit," Mr. Putin said. "All the countries of the euro zone have argued to death amongst themselves over these cucumbers. Now they are dragging us into the scandal."

The German Farmers' Association estimates they're already losing €30 million a week, and a farming lobby in Spain says farmers stand to lose as much as €200 million a week.

Hamburg city health officials originally fingered Spanish cucumbers as the culprits, triggering a collapse in sales of Spanish "pepinos" or cucumbers. They later determined those tested were infected with a different strain of E. coli, and the source is still a mystery.

E. coli Outbreak Spreads

Tobias Schwarz/Reuters

Confirmation that Spanish cucumbers are not to blame for the outbreak has led to rising public support in Spain for the country's farmers in what has been dubbed the "pepino crisis." Several TV stations have launched special programming to promote the maligned vegetable, including the La Sexta network, which is running a series of events and promotions it calls the "pepino revolution". Part of the campaign: Pro-cucumber video segments will be aired during news programs.

Of the four suspected U.S. cases, three people–two adult women and one man—are in the hospital with hemolytic uremic syndrome, Dr. Braden said. Another person has bloody diarrhea but not kidney complications and is not hospitalized.

All of the patients traveled to northern Germany, and the time frame between when they were there and the onset of the disease is consistent with exposure there. One patient developed symptoms on the plane home, he said.

Their cases "fit the general characteristics of the cases found in Germany" and a lab confirmation of the E. coli strain will be available "within days," he said.

In addition, two servicemembers in Germany with diarrhea are being evaluated as "suspected cases," said Dr. Braden, but there are no confirmed cases among military personnel in Europe.

Dr. Braden said "there is no reason to believe and no expectation that this will spread in our country."

Don Kraemer, the Food and Drug Administration's deputy director for the center for food safety and applied nutrition, said there is no reason to be concerned about this outbreak affecting frozen or pickled vegetables in the U.S. "Certainly the pickling process would be expected to be sufficient to eliminate pathogens such as E. coli," he said. And while frozen produce could retain the pathogen, "our concern at this point is with fresh cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuce."

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